


Carol

by Dynamic_Ideation



Series: Gemination [3]
Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Apologetic!Barry, Domestic, Domestic Fluff, F/M, Fluff, One Shot, Pregnancy, my fav kind of Barry tbh, vulnerable!Iris
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-03
Updated: 2015-10-03
Packaged: 2018-04-24 15:09:29
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,292
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4924339
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dynamic_Ideation/pseuds/Dynamic_Ideation
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Barry wonders why Iris is calling the OBGYN so much. Her reason surprises him.</p><p>Barely forty-eight hours had gone by before something weird happened. Iris started calling her, a lot. Barry thought she couldn’t possibly have that many questions.</p><p>“I need to ask Dr. Watts about the complications,” Iris announced on Monday.</p><p>“Why, is something wrong?”</p><p>“No, I’m fine, I just have some questions.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Carol

**Author's Note:**

  * For [wanderer765](https://archiveofourown.org/users/wanderer765/gifts).



“Heeyyyy it’s my favorite family, the Allens!” She said in her charming Mississippi drawl. She ushered Iris in from the waiting room with a gentle hand on her back as Barry followed behind. “Come on in here, Darlin’! Look at this little belly!” At the end of her first trimester Iris was already starting a show a slight roundness to her tummy.

“Sit on down here. How have you been?” Iris turned shy. She twisted her fingers together and lifted her shoulders.

“I’m doing really good, Dr. Watts. It’s nice to see you.”

“Barry, how are you, Sweetheart?”

“I’m doing really well, Dr. Watts, thank you.” Part of being pregnant with multiples, they learned, was seeing the doctor more often. They’d gone to the OBGYN who did their first ultrasound, Dr. Watts, a couple of times. She’d charmed them with her warm personality, and made them feel they were in good hands with her extensive knowledge of all things baby-related. She started to hum absent-mindedly, as she had the other times; it was unexpectedly comforting.

“You know, I have grown boys. I always wanted a daughter, but I never had one.” She fussed with the equipment and hummed what might have been a gospel song. “I would have wanted her to be just like you. You’re such a lovely girl.” She rested a hand on Iris’ wrist.

Iris turned almost childlike under the praise. “Has anyone ever told you-you look just like Lynn Whitfield?”

“Darlin’, you’re such a flatterer.”

“No really, you do. Except even prettier.”

“If I look like her I must be doing something right.”

“You must be.”

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” Iris smiled and lowered her chin, peeking up at her. Barry surreptitiously raised an eyebrow at her weird behavior.

They got to see the babies again. They were still just blips on a screen, but they were bigger blips now, and growing rapidly. Without a doubt, they were something special. Barry leaned forward, literally on the edge of his seat, riveted, unable to keep his eyes off the grainy screen, or the dopey smile off his face. “I could sit and watch them all day,” Iris whispered in wonder, palm resting on her side where there wasn’t any goo.

Dr. Watts smiled at their awe. “Looks like they’re cookin’ up perfectly so far. Strong heartbeats and in the correct stage of development.”

“Nice work, Mommy,” Barry said as he stroked Iris’ cheek with his knuckles.

“Thanks, Daddy.” Iris grinned wide at him.

“I just can’t handle how precious y’all are,” Dr. Watts gushed. “So anyhow, these are the important things to know about multiple births. Our main concern is that they will be premature and have a low birth weight, which is common with multiple births. And you’re petite so they don’t have a whole bunch of elbow room.” She explained to them about vanishing twin syndrome, conjoined twins, and a host of other things that could possibly happen. “But the chances of those things are very rare, and that’s why we’re here, to make sure we get two healthy babies and a healthy mama.” Dr. Watts detailed other things to expect. What was normal, what wasn’t, what could be an emergency. What Iris should be doing to stay healthy. Ways Barry could support her. “You’re not gonna like this one, but you’re going to want to gain about forty pounds for a healthy pregnancy.”

“Forty pounds?!” Iris exclaimed. “Barry’s gonna have to roll me up and down the block! I’ll never be able to go out in public again!”

“You’ll be fine, Iris. I’ll get a wheelbarrow,” Barry joked. Iris shot him a mock death stare.

Chuckling, Dr. Watts continued. “Also, It’s important to be under the care of a professional with the education and experience to handle multiples. I’ll send you home with a list of our doctors to consider.”

“Do you have experience with twins?” Iris asked, hopefully.

“As it happens, I do.” Iris clapped her hands together once as if to say, _it’s settled_. “We want you then.”

“Sugar, it wouldn’t hurt to have a look at all your options.”

She shook her head, adamant. “I don’t want to look. I want to stick with you.”

“Weellll, if you insist, I can’t argue! Yaaaay!” They both giggled like school girls. Dr. Watts fished out one of her cards and wrote on the back. “That’s my cell. Call me anytime with any questions, okay?”

Barely forty-eight hours had gone by before something weird happened. Iris started calling her, a lot. Barry thought she couldn’t possibly have that many questions.

“I need to ask Dr. Watts about the complications,” Iris announced on Monday.

“Why, is something wrong?”

“No, I’m fine, I just have some questions.”

“What if I have gestational diabetes?” Iris wondered aloud on Wednesday.

“I need to ask about my diet,” she declared on Thursday. “I should call the doctor and ask about twin-twin transfusion.”

“Iris, I think you should stay off WebMD.”

“I’m going to call Dr. Watts and ask.”

“Better safe than sorry, I guess,” he replied, although he thinks she’s getting herself too worked up about it. It’s Saturday, and she wouldn’t be able to call Dr. Watts at the clinic until Monday. “Iris, all this worrying isn’t good for the kids or you.”

“I know, I’m just…I’ve never done this before. I need to be sure.”

“All right,” he acquiesces.

“Still with the morning sickness?”

“Well, Carol says that I should try this herbal remedy-“

“Carol?”

“Dr. Watts.”

“You’re calling her Carol?”

“She said I could.”

“Oookay.”

“She said hi, by the way.”

“Please tell her I said hi back.” Barry just shrugs as Iris details him some sort of holistic concoction. Apparently she used the cell number and called on Sunday.

The following Tuesday night Iris’ voice was soft and she was in the next room, but it woke him up anyway. Naturally, he’d become hypersensitive in his crusade to protect her. “…It just really hurts and I can’t sleep.” Any drowsiness is gone when he hears that, and he rolls out of bed to go to her. The clock reads 12:30AM. Technically Wednesday. He came up behind her, hands resting gently on her stomach, face against her neck.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m all right.”

“Are you sure? You said you’re in pain. Do we need to go to the hospital?”

“No, it’s okay. Just heartburn.”

“You called the doctor about heartburn?”

“Go back to bed, okay Bear? I’m just going to talk to Carol for a few minutes. I’ll be right back.”

“Okay, if you’re sure it’s only heartburn…” He ambled back to bed, hearing her conversation with Dr. Watts continue.

“I just can’t figure out how to get it to settle down, the heartburn…yeah. I can’t sleep. I don’t know, I guess I’m just nervous about them, I’m wondering if I’m doing the right things…”

In the morning she was out of bed before he was, doing one of her new favorite things; eating. Barry puts several pop tarts in the microwave and Iris groaned.

“When are you going to stop eating that poison?”

“As soon as I have a normal metabolism,” He smirked at her.

She rolled her eyes. “I’m about to be on your level in a second. I’ve got forty pounds to gain. It’s truly unfortunate how easy is it to eat that much.” Her lips pursed to show her disdain.

“So you’re really feeling alright?” Barry asked, turning the conversation serious. “It was heartburn and nothing else?”

“Yeah I’m fine now,” she replied, nonchalantly.

“I’m glad. But Iris, you don’t think you’re calling the doctor maybe a little bit too much?”

“What makes you say that?”

“You woke her up out of her sleep last night for a non-emergency.”

“Who says it was a non-emergency?”

“Iris, I don’t know if heartburn is a reason to call your doctor up at 12:30 in the morning.”

Iris tilted her head and furrowed her eyebrows, clearly displeased. “I have questions and concerns. She told me I could call her anytime.”

“I think she just said that to be professional,” he said, as gently as he could, “Maybe you should respect her boundaries.”

Apparently it wasn’t gentle enough. “I’m not disrespecting her,” Iris’ voice was getting louder, going from zero to sixty in three seconds. “She said to call at any time because she’s my doctor, and she cares about me. She likes me, she’s my friend!” Now she was shouting. “I mean, why do you have such a problem with this? These are your children and you should want to know right away if something’s wrong, or if there’s something we can do better. Why aren’t you more concerned?”

“Sweetheart, I am concerned, of course I’m concerned-“

“But not enough, if you’re telling me never to call my doctor when I need her.”

“I didn’t say never-“

“You told me I’m crossing boundaries! That’s just not true, she wants me to call!”

“Whoa, all right, all right, calm down,” he said softly.

“I need her, she’s my doctor! Our doctor!” She gestured towards her gently curved tummy. “She said it’s okay!”

“Hey, hey, you’re right, I’m wrong. I’m sorry, just don’t get so worked up, all right?”

“I’m going to go to my Dad’s today. I won’t be home for a while.” She snatched up her purse and car keys and stormed towards the door. Barry followed behind her, trying to placate her.

“Iris, you don’t have to do that. I’m sorry, really I am.” She slammed the door in his face.

“I don’t know what you said to her, Bear, but she’s livid.”

“Is it that bad?”

“Mm-hmm.”

Barry sighed. “Our doctor’s really nice and Iris has been calling her all the time, at all hours of the night. They’re even on a first name basis now.”

“Oh really? Who is this doctor?”

“Well, her name is Dr. Watts. She did our first ultrasound, and she’s got experience with twin pregnancies. She’s really a nice lady, and apparently she looks like Lynn Whitfield if you let Iris tell it.”

“Oh, she’s _fine_ then.”

“Joe…”

“My bad.” He chuckled then pauses for a moment. “Ah. It makes sense now. Think about this, Barry. Iris is pregnant, emotional, vulnerable, and her major caregiver has taken a personal interest in her. She’s the closest thing Iris has to a mother.”

The realization hit Barry hard enough to make him sway where he was standing. How could he have missed it? “I never even thought about that. You know what? She told Iris she’s what she would have wanted in a daughter.”

“And that’s the thing, Barry. You both know about missing your mothers, but being a first-time mother to twins without your mom to guide you…that’s something that you could never understand, no matter how hard you try.”

“Wow, you’re right. Did I mention she’s from Mississippi, and she has an accent, and she hums and calls her ‘Darlin’?”

“Oh yeah, Iris is hooked good.”

“I messed up.”

“Don’t guilt yourself. I don’t think Iris saw this coming any more than you did. My advice to you is, just let her do it. If Dr. Watts doesn’t like it, she’ll have to draw the line herself. That way you can keep yourself out of the line of fire.” He chuckled again.

Joe convinced Iris to come home for the night, but she still refused to give more than one-word answers when Barry tried to talk to her. Maybe tomorrow.

“I’m taking Carol to lunch today, as an apology for waking her up, and as a thank you for being so supportive. I insisted.” She stared him down, ready to pounce if he tried to protest.

He was not going to make that mistake. “Okay.”

“Do you have a problem with that?”

“None at all.”

“Okay.” She appeared to be satisfied with that. Barry sighed when she marched out. At least she was softening a bit.

She got home much later than he expected, and she looked contented and cheerful, that beautiful glow back in full effect. When she saw him on the couch she set her armful of bags down and crossed her arms under her chest.

“I told her what you said, and she said that we’re friends. Okay? We’re _friends_.”

“All right, I believe you, Iris.” Barry gestured for her to come sit on his lap. She sat, molding herself against him, tucking her face in beneath his chin. He held her tight, smoothing a hand up and down her arm, bringing it to rest on her middle.

“Are you sorry?” She sounded more hurt than angry now.

“You have no idea how sorry I am.” He planted a kiss on her cheek.

“Are you really?”

“Hey,” His index finger guided her face up so he could look her deep in the soft brown eyes he loved so much. “I am really, truly sorry. I should have believed you, and I should have respected your relationship with Dr. Watts. I think it’s a wonderful thing, for you and the kids.”

She snuggled back up to him. “Okay. That’s good, because she sent me back with a few things. If you didn’t apologize you weren’t getting any,” he could feel her smile against his skin.

“Things like what?”

“Oh just some smothered pork chops,” she teased, “and some cornbread. And some greens. And an entire sweet potato pie…” Barry’s eyes went big. Even with his super speed Iris somehow beat him to the counter, cutting him off before he could dig in the bags. They bickered playfully over the homemade soul food, then spent the evening feeding each other, eating themselves sick.


End file.
